Germany: Berlin Revisited by Robert Wallis (79 images)

Berlin has stood at the vortex of world history several times in the past century, from the rise and fall of Nazism to the post-war division of Europe into East and West, to the end of the Cold War and the collapse of Communism.

November 9, 1989 would become one of the most important dates in the city's history almost by accident. Following weeks of demonstrations in East Berlin, Leipzig and other cities, the East German politburo issued a decree on that date that East Berliners...more »

Berlin has stood at the vortex of world history several times in the past century, from the rise and fall of Nazism to the post-war division of Europe into East and West, to the end of the Cold War and the collapse of Communism.

November 9, 1989 would become one of the most important dates in the city's history almost by accident. Following weeks of demonstrations in East Berlin, Leipzig and other cities, the East German politburo issued a decree on that date that East Berliners "with proper permission" could start to visit the West for the first time since the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961.

With the opening of the border and the subsequent wave of 'Ossies' (East Germans) heading West, large areas of East Berlin became derelict. Following re-unification a year later, many East German factories that could not compete with Western production also became derelict. Into this void came artists attracted by cheap living and studio space.

In 2009, twenty years after the fall of the wall, the abandoned buildings and darkened districts in East Berlin have become not only artists' studios, but also performance spaces, galleries, restaurants and nightclubs. The German techno scene is particularly well suited to the former industrial spaces. Meanwhile new high profile architectural projects have been developed in the former 'death-strip' along the eastern side of where the Berlin Wall stood.

Compared to its period of extreme intolerance in the 1930s and 40s, and its Cold War isolation until 1989, Berlin today is one of the most open and liberal cities in the world, re-establishing the reputation it held in the 1920s as a centre for artistic and creative freedom.« less